Key of Living Fire (The Sword of the Dragon)

by Appleton, Scott

  Before he realized that he’d succeeded, the vine released him, and he was hard pressed to cover his face with his arms as he plunged through the tree branches and splashed into a slimy pool of water. He wiped the green slush from his face and smiled wryly up at Caritha as she and Mazella stared at him from atop a log.

  “I thought you were going to watch Oganna.”

  “And I thought you were going to be careful.” She sprang down and helped him to his feet, giving him a disgusted look as she did so. “Are you all right?”

  He shook the water out of his ears. “Where is Oganna?”

  “The viper woke up and said that it would watch over her. I decided to come looking for you.”

  “There was no need. We’re doing quite well on our own.” He located his sword nearby and picked it up.

  Caritha glanced at Mazella and then back at him. “How did you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Free yourself from the vines.”

  “Oh, that.” He picked a chunk of bark from his teeth and held it up with a laugh. “Bit down as hard as I could as often as I could.”

  She shook her head and sighed with relief. “Sometimes I don’t know about you.”

  “Psst! Psst!” The viper’s tongue tickled Oganna’s hand.

  She forced one of her eyes open and tried to motivate her legs to move. How long have I been sleeping? The angle of Yimshi’s light on the mountain slopes told her that there were still a couple of hours until noon.

  She packed her bedding and heaved it onto her shoulders. The viper slid up her arm and around her neck. “Psst,” it said in her ear, “they went into the ssswamp.”

  At the mountain’s base she could see the beginnings of a swamp similar in appearance to the one through which Whimly had led them, though this one did not appear to stretch as far, and a clear line of green in the distance gave her hope that they would soon reach more hospitable ground. She could also see mountains some distance beyond. The volcano rumbled and then belched a cloud of ash. Around the mountain hung dark clouds, some of rain and others of ash, forming a perimeter several miles in breadth. Above the distant line of green she could see a clear blue sky beckoning her. Or was it teasing her?

  A peal of thunder redirected her attention to the north. Dark low-hanging clouds rolled toward the volcano. “Let’s get moving, Neneila. I want to find them.” The sky darkened, and the first drops of rain fell around her as she made a run for the swamp. She thought that Ombre would have left a trail for her to follow, but she could see nothing. Perhaps it was the dim light and the tangled vines. They formed a perfect wall.

  Drawing Avenger, she clothed herself in silver and slashed a hole through the foliage. To her surprise, the vines retracted as she slashed at them, opening a broad path ahead of her. She walked inside, leaving behind the faint odor of sulfur wafting from the volcano.

  Several large trees leaned out of her path as she passed by, and a few raised their low-hanging branches above her head. This forest was alive.

  One tree did not move out of the way, but she pointed her crimson blade at its trunk. The tree screamed in terror and raised its branches. Startled, she screamed. The creaking of the tree’s movements sounded to her like whimpers, but she couldn’t be sure.

  The vines formed a vast maze that moved out of her way and sometimes formed bridges over the water for her to pass on. It was all very strange and a lot of fun. She felt like a child again, discovering the wonders of a world larger than she could fathom.

  As she neared a small body of water, the vines lowered, entwined with tree roots, and a bridge formed over the water. She danced over it and jumped to dry ground on the other side.

  “Ow!”

  The exclamation caught her off guard, and she looked down to see a yellow flower, about ten inches tall. It had eyes and a mouth where the center of its blossom should have been. She stared, unable to fathom what she saw. At last she managed to say, “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you down there. Are you okay?”

  “Wah!” The flower bent over, and its petals shook with its crying.

  She tried to say she was sorry, but her apologies went in one petal and out another. It didn’t appear that she had harmed it. She scrutinized it to be sure. “You’re fine,” she said. “Don’t cry.” The viper slurped disapprovingly in her ear, and she knew what it was thinking. This thing is a wimp. That seemed to be the case. Though, for all she knew, all living flowers possessed that characteristic.

  The swamp sprang to life. The trees shifted on their roots, and the marsh grasses parted to make way for a multitude of flowers that rose out of the sopping soil. Dripping moisture, the flowers converged on her position, spidering along on their roots. Most of the flowers stood no higher than her knee, but from the farther depths of the swamp, flowers rose in great numbers; some of them stood as tall as she. They waved stem-like arms and leaf hands. It was the strangest sight Oganna had seen yet, and she stared at the hostile plants’ faces.

  “Human treads Flowerland and human die in Flowerland.” They moved to attack her, groping with their stem arms and spitting pollen at her face. She raised her sword, and burning flames rippled along its blade. She pointed the sword at the flower horde. Flames cascaded from the blade’s tip, singeing the nearest flowers and burning others.

  Uttering cries, the flowers scampered away. Charred stems and leaves littered the ground where they’d stood.

  They soon returned, growing new body parts as they came. She did not wish to destroy them; after all, she felt she had started this incident. She held back her power and only used that which came from her sword. But the flowers did not stop, and she was forced to pull out her boomerang and send it out on its deadly journey. As large numbers of them fell, halved; the flowers retreated, and she made her way farther into the swamp. Her tactics had the desired effect. None of the flowers followed her, and the trees and vines parted once again to allow her safe passage.

  She exhaled, and from then on kept one eye on the ground, careful to avoid any and all flowers. Caution seemed not just prudent but necessary.

  Then she heard Ombre somewhere up ahead, struggling. And as she approached she heard Caritha and Mazella as well.

  “Watch out for that branch,” Mazella said.

  Caritha added, “It’s another vine!”

  “Look out!”

  When she came upon them, they were some fifty feet off the ground, tangled in the living vines trying to capture them. As soon as she approached and pointed her blade at the vines, the vines released their captives and set them on the ground. The tree roots slid to the side, and the vines swung aside, opening a path ahead of her.

  “What in Subterran is going on here?” Ombre slumped his shoulders and opened his arms wide, looking skyward. “First I come in here with Mazella, and the swamp wants to kill us, then you walk on the scene and everything gets quiet. Oganna, what did you do?”

  Caritha said nothing, yet she stared at Oganna with unwavering analysis.

  Mazella stared up at her, stepped close, and knelt. “Truly there is somethings special about you.”

  “Come on, everyone. Let’s get out of here. And be careful not to step on flowers; some of them are”—she swallowed, knowing how it would sound—“alive.” She pulled Mazella to his feet and ran toward a wide stream. As the vines formed a bridge, she stepped onto it, eliciting gasps from her companions behind her. She ignored them, leading them westward as fast as she was able. The bodies of water grew scarce, the vines thinned, and the trees grew farther apart. She passed over a stream of green water to the land beyond and stood on dry ground.

  When they could see a field through the trees ahead, the vines formed another bridge over a final large body of water. As they reached the bridge’s center, the vines drew back, dropping all of them into the water.

  Ombre swam to the opposite shore, dragging Caritha with him up the bank. But Oganna floundered as the water soaked into her glowing dress, and when she looked into the wate
r’s cold depths several pairs of eyes glinted back at her. Crocodiles popped to the surfaced and snaked toward her. Oganna swam toward the shore, but the weight of her dress dragged her down.

  “Hurry, Oganna,” Caritha urged as she stood on the shore.

  But Ombre dropped his pack and leaped into the water, sword in hand, and Neneila slithered into the water. The viper swam at the nearest crocodile and sank its fangs into its head. The crocodile swam closer to Oganna and opened its toothy mouth.

  Just then Mazella ran along one of the reptile’s backs, reached into its mouth, and yanked out one of its teeth. The crocodile groaned and plunged underwater. Mazella bounced like a wildcat from one crocodile to the next, digging the tooth he’d acquired into their eyes until they too submerged.

  But the murky water now unleashed snakes and strange fishlike creatures that breached the surface and tried to catch Mazella as he sank into the water. “You must gets out of here. Now!” he screamed. “I cans handle them.”

  She could have done as he suggested, but instead she powered up her sword. The flames shot underwater, evaporating the water in thick clouds of steam and driving back the swamp creatures. Neneila skittered through the water to the shore, ahead of the steam.

  “Come on.” Oganna dog-paddled toward the shore as Mazella glanced at her. “The shore is not far off.”

  Ombre swam between her and the midget as snakes rose back to the water’s surface. He lopped off their heads and kicked and yelled, enough to keep them from biting him and from getting to anyone but him.

  Caritha cut a long vine from one of the trees and threw it into the water. Mazella took hold first, and Oganna grabbed on behind. Then they swam while Caritha hauled them in. They landed on dry ground at the same instant that an Aquagiant began to surface. Ombre screamed, for the creature’s ugly face loomed directly in front of him. He swam faster than Oganna believed possible and made land within several seconds.

  “Whats is that?” Mazella trembled as he pointed at the wicked creature.

  “Run!” Oganna faced the creature while Ombre and Caritha ran with Mazella for cover. With sword raised, she directed a torrent of flames at the creature’s face. Its hands closed into fists, and its arms slipped back under the water. As the last bit of the Aquagiant’s head disappeared, she let her tired arms drop to her sides. The viper slithered up her leg, and Oganna ran to join her companions.

  They stood in a narrow meadow now. Yimshi’s rays began drying their clothes and warming their skin. “That,” she said to the gaping Mazella, “was an Aquagiant.”

  They found a flat, dry region littered with boulders outside the swamp. Evening darkness settled over the land, and a warm breeze relaxed their frayed nerves. They set up camp, not bothering to pitch the tent, and fell asleep.

  “Garumph! What have we here?”

  Oganna woke and faced five green Megatraths. Judging from the moist, cold air and the dark star-studded sky, it was hardly past midnight. Swamp slime and roots hung off their smelly bodies. She closed her nose against the smell as the creatures stared greedily upon her and her companions. They held nasty barbed spears, and she overheard one of them mutter that it had been a long time since they’d had any humans to do their dirty work. She sat up and reached to her side, feeling for her sword. But a Megatrath held up her sheathed weapon and cackled darkly.

  “I think the human wanted to fight.”

  “Garumph!” another said. “Let’s impale her.”

  They moved toward her, and three of them grabbed her companions. Caritha’s sword lay on the ground, as well as Ombre’s. One Megatrath smashed Caritha into a boulder. He dragged her along the ground and stepped on her arm. A sickening crack of bone and Oganna knew: it had broken Caritha’s arm!

  Another growled and drove its fist into Ombre’s head, surely knocking him cold.

  “How dare you.” Anger surged through her being, and a fire boiled in her soul. Without moving her legs, she floated to a standing position. Her hands glowed like the embers of a fire, and she advanced without fear upon the nearest Megatrath.

  He gurgled deep in his throat and grabbed her, but as soon as she touched him with her hands, they burned through his hide into his flesh. Avenger slipped from the Megatrath’s grasp, and his companions backed off, grunting their concern as she was decked in silver and the blade flamed red. She drove the blade into the first Megatrath’s chest, toppling it, and lopped off the arm of the one holding Mazella.

  The midget pounced on the Megatrath guarding Caritha as Oganna finished off the one missing an arm. He pulled a dagger from a belt around the creature’s waist and climbed onto its shoulders, then thrust the blade into its neck. The Megatrath roared, reached behind its head with its remaining forearm, and grasped the midget in its powerful fist.

  The Megatrath rushed to a nearby tree and slammed Mazella’s head into the trunk. The little man fell limp and bled from a split in his skull.

  “Monster!” Oganna turned to the creature, leaping on its back. Neneila tightened around her shoulders. The Megatrath’s hide skinned her knees, but she did not care. She sank Avenger’s blade into the creature’s back and shoulders, and then its neck. The Megatrath trembled and slumped to the ground.

  The Megatraths that remained roared with fury, yet they turned away and lumbered toward the swamp. They stepped into the murky water, settled into its depths, and swam toward its heart. Crocodiles scattered before them, but the Megatraths grabbed one by the tail and ripped it in half. The sound of their ferocious feast filled the swamp.

  Releasing the power of her sword, Oganna returned to her normal state and rushed to Ombre’s side. He sat up and shook his head. He grunted, stood, and stared at the carnage about them. “Green Megatraths?” But his eyes fell on Caritha, and he brushed past Oganna. He knelt beside the Warrioress. Tears fell down his face.

  Oganna dashed to Mazella’s side. The midget lay still, unmoving. She took his tiny wrist in her hand, felt for a pulse. Finding none, she hung her head and wept. She closed her eyes, probing for his consciousness. But the spark of his life was gone forever.

  She heard Ombre laugh with relief. He shouted to her, “She is going to be okay. Her breathing is steady. She’s unconscious, but she will be all right.” Under his breath, he said, “Her arm is broken. Oganna, help me find some wood for a splint.”

  His words did not break the veil of sorrow that surrounded Oganna. A few minutes passed; Oganna cradled the lonely midget in her arms. So brave, so alone.

  Ombre’s strong hand clasped her shoulder. “Oh no.” And his tears fell on her shoulder. “He is gone, then. Oh no.”

  A scream broke the silence, and both of them glanced over their shoulders. A Megatrath had returned from the swamp, and its clawed fingers had frozen within inches of Caritha’s body. It stared down at her.

  “Back for more, eh?” Ombre charged. He must have retrieved his sword, for he swung it in his hands. “You would kill an injured woman?”

  But the creature’s arm shot toward him, faster than Oganna’s eye could discern. It held Ombre, pinning the sword to his side. “Silence, human.” Its voice rolled deep and commanding over the ground. “I am not here to harm her, or you.” It turned its gaze upon Caritha. “Your arm is broken, lady. Did my kind cause this?”

  Oganna rose, cradling Mazella’s body in her arms. She nodded, even though the creature had directed the question to Caritha, and another tear rolled down her cheek.

  The creature growled as Caritha grimaced a nod. “Do not fear. The villains will be dealt with. They will be dead before the night has ended.” It set its claws along the sides of Caritha’s arm. “This will be painful, so prepare yourself.”

  Bone ground against bone in a sickening sound that made Oganna cringe. She walked toward the creature, where it held Ombre off the ground. Ombre struggled no more, just stared as the creature worked on Caritha’s arm. Caritha’s arm straightened, then bent. The woman cried out, and the Megatrath narrowed its eyes. “That is dra
gon blood in your veins.” It smiled, and her arm straightened into its normal shape.

  The creature dipped a bow to Caritha, then growled at Ombre before plopping him on the ground. Ombre fell to his knees, and the Megatrath rushed into the swamp. Oganna counted not six but eight legs. The creature swam like a bloated alligator through the water until it was out of sight.

  Caritha rose unsteadily. She touched her arm and exhaled. “I am so tired.” She stumbled toward Ombre, and he caught her in a hearty embrace. They stood there until they dared look upon Mazella’s corpse. “We must bury him,” Caritha said.

  A terrible roaring filled the swamp, and the trio gazed into its dim depths. The water churned, and half a dozen Megatraths breached the water’s surface. Four of the creatures forced two of them onto the shore. They lumbered toward Oganna, Ombre, and Caritha. The two between the four, their eyes darting side to side, growled and groaned. But they cowered as the eight-legged Megatrath rose out of the swamp and joined their group. He lumbered forward as the other Megatraths halted.

  “We have a custom among our race,” he said.

  The two Megatraths behind him whimpered, and he turned on them, his voice the sound of thunder. “We have a custom that the murderers dig the grave of their victim, overlay it with stones, and die upon those same stones.”

  The four creatures slashed the two with claws and roared. The Megatrath pair began to dig. With little effort, their powerful forearms opened a deep hole in the ground.

  “Please.” The eight-legged creature took a step closer to Oganna. “This is the only way we can recompense what has happened.”

  She shook her head, then bowed. “Truly I respect your customs, but we wish to bury him in a clean grave with a human ceremony. He fought and died alongside us, and we owe him the type of burial he would have wanted.”